Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
And one way or the other, Julian will come for her. He will kill her. This world is a world of GTECHs now. Whatever we will be, we do need to be together.
I reach down to my pant leg and remove the knife I’ve strapped there, hold out my hand, and slice it open.
Big pearly tears glisten down Addie’s cheeks as I unwrap the towel from her hand.
“And I cannot breathe without you,” I whisper. “But once this is done, there is no turning back. We really do live and die together. And whatever monster I become, you will never escape me. You need to understand that, Addie.”
“You are not a monster, and you never will be,” she says, grabbing my hand and pressing her palm to mine. “If it takes me a lifetime to make you see that, then so be it.” She seals our hands together.
I’m fucking trembling with emotion, with the magnitude of what she had just done, with the trust she has in me that I don’t dare have in myself.
One by one, I kiss away her tears and cradle her cheek with my hand, repeating the vow that I never want her to forget. “I love you.”
“I love you, Creed.”
With all my heart and soul, I silently add that I will be the man she sees in me, not the man my parents wanted me to become. I kiss her tenderly, gently, and pull back to watch the green of her eyes go black. At least for a little while, until the transition is complete and I’m the only one who gets to see the glorious green of her stare ever again. I guide our sealed palms between us and slowly release her hand, wiping the towel over her skin and showing her that our wounds have healed.
Addie stares down at her hand, touches her palm, then looks up at me. “Is it done? That easily?”
“You know, as well as I do, that you might be sick, but I’m hoping that you’ve been on the verge of the change so long that it won’t happen.”
I stroke a thumb over her bottom lip. “God, you’re beautiful. And you’re mine now.”
She smiles up at me and says, “Since the day I met you.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Julian
I sit at a marble dinner table on a balcony overlooking the colosseum. Hordes of soldiers fill the bleachers on either side of me, all of them enthralled by twenty scantily-clad females dancing in the center of the ring—new recruits auditioning to be chosen by males for their beds and a chance to become a lifebond.
“You’re pleased?” Ava asks, sipping apricot nectar from a silver-stemmed glass, watching me from beneath half-veiled eyes.
I reach for her hand, pressing it to my lips. “Your ability to influence these women’s thoughts and feelings is nothing shy of amazing.”
She beams with satisfaction that lasts all of mere moments. “We are up to seventy women again,” she says. “Two of the new recruits are now lifebonds.” Considering she’d scaled back her fertility testing and has still managed to kill ten of her subjects, this number speaks highly of Tad’s recruiting efforts—if you can call luring women into captivity recruiting.
The crowd roars as the women finish their number and exit the stadium, music blaring through speakers as the real show prepares to begin. The lights dim around the bleachers, spotlights glowing around my favorite wolves as they file onto the stone floor and claim center stage.
Recently captured human soldiers will soon appear to fight for survival and for their shot at becoming GETCH. Of course, my stock is far too low to grant it to just anyone. Only a warrior of great skill will be worthy. Not likely to be found tonight, but it will be entertaining to watch my wolves in action. Adrenaline rushes through me at the excitement; all else but the show forgotten.
That is until the scent of female and fear flare in my sensitive nostrils. My gaze shifts to my right, to the stone hallway where Tad enters the balcony, a terrified female in front of him with a gun to her back. Tears stream down her face.
Irritation grates on my nerves as Tad halts at the far end of the table. “What is it you want, Tad?”
Ava pushes to her feet and moves to stand in front of the Asian beauty Tad’s brought to us, holding her hands. “You’re okay,” she says, staring into the woman’s eyes and then touching her forehead. The female stops crying, her expression taking on a distant, calm look. Ava gives her another once-over. “She is a good specimen, at least,” she says dryly.
“She also has an interesting family connection,” Tad supplies, running his hand down her hair. “Tell them who your father is.”
“Tan Chin,” she says softly.
Ava’s eyes go wide. “As in, Dr. Chin?”